Never to Live it Down
by Princess Claire Fey
Summary: Chan's friend and best mate Ruon-Jian pays more attention to the propaganda than he probably should, and he was dumb enough to listen.


"Hey! Don't be like that."

Chan most definitely _was_ like that right now. Looking out upon the ocean, the bright orange reflection his _father's burning house_ pulsating with the waves, his failure could not possibly be more apparent. His father had left him in a vacation home all by himself, and all he needed to gain his trust was saying 'yeah duh, okay dad' when he asked '...Don't throw any of your parties! And don't burn the house down!'

He thought he was _joking_. What kind of firebender burns their own house down?

_I guess now I know what he meant_.

"Why not?"

"Look, I have a plan"

He looked at Ruon. _He has a plan. Great. _His last plan to throw a party while his dad was on emergency callout to some northern siege and his mother was on a pleasure cruise worked out _fantastic_.

"...don't give me that look! It's better than the last one. Your dad will call you uh.. a hero! When he gets back" the dark-haired boy exclaimed, stepping between Chan and his faint moonlit reflection in the waters. "All you gotta do is find that scarred guy who fucked up your shit, and beat him in an *Agni Kai*"

A weak laugh. "A hero? Really Ruon?"

"One hundred! Your man is always saying you got to get out and stop sitting around. This is your chance to show him what's what! I bet that dude is a real pussy anyway"

"It's not him" Chan sighed, his friend giving him a weird look. "It's that girl."

"The weird one?" Ruon-Jian scratched his head. "What about her?"

"She was the one at the door. I think I pissed her off and she organized the whole thing with her friends"

The teenager's attention was immediately gripped when Ruon gave a push to his shoulder. "So? Nobody needs to know that. Beat the guy, your old man is happy. Why would some random bitch want to burn down the place anyway? The scarred one is the one we pissed off"

He looked down at the ground. "Well..."

Ruon-Jian crossed his arms. "You two didn't do anything on the balcony did you? Look I told you Chan, never stick your dick in crazy. I called that shit from a mile aw-"

"We didn't do anything, that's the problem" he finally looked up. "She gave this big speech about _dominating the earth _and did some fancy blue firebending as if it were supposed to turn me on. I peaced out before she could try anything"

"No way"

Chan turned as if to exit by an imaginary door. "Yes way. I'm telling you, she's mad at me for not liking her dumb pickup lines and silly parlor tricks, and that's wh-"

Ruon was laughing now. "...no way."

"No way what?"

A moment while the boy let his own laughter subside. "Did you... ever get the girl's name?"

It was Chan's turn to cross his arms.

"Well... according to the news reels, there's only one blue fire bitch I know of. That being '_Crown Princess Azula. Prodigy. Warrior Princess, Pride of the Fire Nation_'. You know, the one in that play? The one that every girl can't shut up about because they all want to be her?"

More silence.

"Hel-looo! Earth to Chan! You just turned down a princess! You know, daughter of the Fir- whoa-! Hey! What the heck man!" he exclaimed as he hit the sand hard, his friend holding him down - tresses messy hair, having fallen from their knot, grazing his exposed chest.

"Don't bullshit me man! Not right now, I don't need your stupid jokes."

It was Ruon's turn to push, sending Chan off of him and into his own mess of wet sand. "No bull, I swear man! If that was really blue you saw, then that bitch is one hundred royal blood, or one hundred crazy nightmare. Either way, not the type you want to be chasing to restore your family honor."

"I wasn't going to! Your plan is stupid anyway."

"It's not stupid, if anything, _you're_ stupid for saying no to a damned princess! She probably burned your house for staining her royal honor or whatever."

"So you're on her side?" Chan spat.

"Nah man, what I am saying is..." said Ruon-Jian, quickly brushing himself off. "You're gonna have a heck of a time living this one down when I tell everybody else."

"...hey. Hey! Get back here!"


End file.
